S4YA S2E4 – A Thing About Machines – Twilight Zone

Fellow Twilight Zone podcast host, Ron Lechler, joins the show this week to figure out “A Thing About Machines”. We talk about technophobia, fear of technology, and what this episode is really about: the dangers of misanthropy.

Synopsis: We meet Bartlett Finchley, a man who’s kind of a huge jerk to everyone he meets. He berates his tv repairman, makes his secretary quit in disgust and seems to think all the machines in his life are out to get him. His suspicious are quickly confirmed when all of the appliances start to act out on their own; a typewriter types, “Get out of here Finchley”, the television turns on by itself, his electric razor flies in mid-air. Rushing out of the house, he finds himself face to face with his self-aware, self-driving and generally pissed off car. After a brief chase, the car backs Finchley up to the edge of a pool, knocking him in.

The next morning, the police and paramedic comment on how it was odd that Finchley drowned but wasn’t floating… as if something heavy was holding him down.